Rossnmo wrote:Could you tell me where you got your remote locking kit for your car and is it simple to fit?Our Eunos locks are becoming so sticky it's going to cost a fortune in replacement keys.

Stop the bus and let's think this through.

Your locks are getting sticky and let's say getting worse.

You fit a remote locking kit and say six months later your car battery fails on your car when locked.

You cannot get the remote locking working to open the car and as you did not fix the sticky locks the keys will not work.

So two problems here.

You need the manual system to be working well before fitting a remote system, so either get the locks lubricated, repaired or replaced and would it be the end of the world if the door locks were on a different key to the ignition. So saving cost.

The current switch was a very cheap thing hanging from the dash, looking rubbish.

The new switch looks so much better, I just need to find a Rubber blanking grommet to fit in the hole left by the old switch, having trouble finding one of the right size at the moment. I also think its a shame that Mazda decided to go with a more matt finish that the older blanking plugs.

Over the last couple of days I got the front suspension apart again in order to replace the lower from ball joint boots, the joints them selves were in good condition as the boots had only just started to split.

The old boot was leaking some very dirty looking grease.

With the old boot removed, the old grease cleaned out and replaced with nice fresh stuff, a new boot pushed in to place.

On the front offside I had a leaking damper, so I replaced it with a second hand one from Autolink. At some point I will get the whole suspension replaced with probably Koni Sports, but I don't have the funds at this time to do it, so this will do for now.

At the same time I replaced the bump stops/boots as they were just a pile of little rings around the damper shaft.

I fitted new Shift lower and higher boots, got the nylon cup at the bottom of the gear lever replaced, and changed the oil in the turret. I also changed my fuel filter, removed one of the rear tie down hooks, and painted the front ones up in some black Hammerite.

I also got IL Motorsport front and rear Chassis braces fitted.

Rear Brace

Front Brace

I think between the chassis bracing and the new gear lever bits she will drive quite a bit better, just how much better I will find out tomorrow

Sarah, your car is really looking the business now. No one has mentioned much reference to your wheels but as nice as the OZ's are in the last pic, I much prefer the car wearing the Minilite style in the very first batch of pics. I think that wheels absolutely make or break any car in the looks department. Just on a finishing note and I feel no one will agree but the original Mazda minilite things look awful on any colour of '5 but good for having winter boots on I suppose.

Kirky007 wrote:.....No one has mentioned much reference to your wheels but as nice as the OZ's are in the last pic, I much prefer the car wearing the Minilite style in the very first batch of pics. I think that wheels absolutely make or break any car in the looks department.

The Picture with the RB's are of the same car, they were changed to the OZ's, and I made a couple hundred quid from the sale of the RB's, over and above the price of the OZ's.

Now I would agree perhaps the Rota RB's do perhaps look better than the Oz's on the my car, but thats down to personal opinion. Now I'm not saying for a second here that the OZ's are my definitive wheel choice, as I will probably replace them in a few years time with something different. However for now they are a great wheel, that I picked up for not a lot of money.

So why did I change, well there are multiple reasons.

The RB's were 15 x 8 with a offset of 30 and weight without tyres is 6.3kg each. They had 195/50 section budget performance tyres on, which on a 8in wheel meant stretch. Whilst I did think about changing to larger section tyres, they are much more expensive than 195 tyres and of course would also increase unsprung weight. I don't personally like the stretch tyre thing, I find it interesting that the maximum wheel width that toyo recommend for the 195/50/15 tyre is 7in.

Now the OZ superleggera wheels are 15 x 7 with an offset of 38 and weight without tyres is 5.2kg each. These came with a set of good Toyo T1R 195/50 already mounted. So no tyre stretch and a unsprung/rotational weight saving of 1.1kgs per corner (even more if you consider I would of gone with a wider tyre on the RBs). The effect of increased unsprung weight on these cars is well known. There is a very minor benifit to the higher offset number, as this keeps the Scrub Radius closer to what the Mazda engineers intended.

So in conclusion with the change, I got wheels that are lighter, better suited to the cars suspension, better tyres with no stretch and I made a couple hundred quid. So many people make their choice of wheel on looks alone, when there is much more to be considered.

You are absolutely right, there is more to choosing wheels than just looks. I wasn't aware that the original pic had extreme sizes of wheel tyre combination etc. I naturally assumed that any wheels you would have on or fitted would have been optimum for chosen purpose. Although many have been caught out , just because the PCD is the same. Getting back to looks, it is all personal no doubt. I was just saying that my view was such, they did look good eh?

Yes they did look good, they now look even better on Richards MK1 Californa

Over the last couple of days I got a few things done.

I continued to tidy up the engine bay some more.

I got out my welder and modified the diagnostics plug bracket so that it sits in a less prominent position, but is still easy to access

Whilst my welder was out a also modified the fuse box bracket so that the igniter could be repositioned, allowing for complete removal of its bracket.

The engine bay is now looking a bit better than it was when I got the car, there are other bits I want to paint up and make it look even better, but that will have to wait as I am starting a new job in a few days time.